Caleb is the primary chef in the Lenhof Household.

I am truly a lucky, lucky woman; if it weren’t for him, I’d still be on my college diet of whole-grain cereal & water. #yuck

What are your must-have kitchen items? I would love to know – maybe, someday, I will help out in the kitchen a little more than just being a taste tester! I thought it would be a fun round-up to share all of Caleb’s top kitchen essentials to prepare only the tastiest meals for me!

Caleb’s Top 10 Must-Have Kitchen Essentials 

These are the tools my husband uses the most when he is cooking.

1. Bamboo Wooden Cooking Utensils: Non-Stick pans are not necessarily non-scratch: wooden utensils help avoid ruining your non-stick finish!
2. Instant Pot & Instant Pot Cookbook: Caleb and I work (a lot), and finding time to make things that taste as if they were slaved over all day is… difficult. The instant pot allows you to make things like a pot roast or pulled pork in a couple of hours instead of all day.
3. Classic 2-Piece Prep Knife Set  (and bada$$ knife magnet): One year for Christmas, we bought Caleb’s mom a new knife because all her old dull ones were becoming dangerous to use (forcing a dull knife to cut = high injury potential) and she has cut herself less since! In addition to that, a sharp, quality, well-balanced knife makes cutting an enjoyable part of cooking.
4. Pyrex Measuring Cups: Caleb may be a great cook, but it could be that he just is great at messing-up recipes – either way, a quality measuring tool is a necessity.
5. Griddle: Caleb loves his Lodge Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle. Caleb has made everything from morning over-medium eggs to my favorite veggie burgers on this griddle!
6. Garlic Peeler & Garlic Press: I know it looks and sounds silly, but this has made garlic prep so easy!
7. Immersion Blender: He doesn’t use it all the time, but when he does, he always raves about how much he loves it.
8. Cuisinart Food Processor: We both love our food processor! It was one of the first kitchen items we bought together when we first started dating! Still, to this day, we love making our own peanut butter, salsa, and hummus!
9. Ultra-Fast Meat Thermometer: Caleb uses this all the time with his griddle. Even though we’ve been eating pescatarian (because of my allergies), he still uses it all the time. It comes in multiple colors, but I love that ours is monochromatic like everything else in our kitchen. #AestheticsMatter

10.Menu Salt and Pepper Mills:Since seasoning is such an important part of cooking, you’ll want to keep your most utilized seasonings within arm’s length which means they’ll be on display at all times. Best to get a set that is handsome/pretty, and these would be in the running every year to win People Magazine’s Sexiest Kitchen Tool (if it were a thing).